Reuters: White House, State Dep’t received e-mails within two hours of Benghazi attack about jihadi group taking credit

posted at 11:21 pm on October 23, 2012 by Allahpundit

We actually know most of this already, I think. Remember this Reuters story from October 2 describing multiple intelligence reports about a jihadi connection even in the first few hours afterward? How about the AP’s piece four days ago about the CIA’s station chief informing the White House within 24 hours that militants might be involved? The White House had plenty of reason to suspect more was going on than a protest that got out of hand, even from the very beginning. But that would meddle with one of O’s strongest reelection narratives, i.e. the president who demolished Al Qaeda (read this for a stark illustration of how certain key supporters are helping him out with that), so we didn’t hear about it until Eli Lake and CNN and Reuters all but dragged it out of him.

What we didn’t know until now is that the White House Situation Room got a heads up on whodunnit early enough that Chris Stevens may well have still been alive at the time.

The emails, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks…

A third email, also marked SBU and sent at 6:07 p.m. Washington time, carried the subject line: “Update 2: Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack.”

The message reported: “Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli.”

While some information identifying recipients of this message was redacted from copies of the messages obtained by Reuters, a government source said that one of the addresses to which the message was sent was the White House Situation Room, the president’s secure command post.

Carney mentioned afterwards that “extremists” might have been involved in the, ahem, spontaneous protest, but he didn’t name Ansar al-Sharia or suggest that U.S. intelligence had a particular group in mind. Which is curious, because the e-mails pointing to the group’s Twitter/Facebook claims weren’t the White House’s only piece of evidence against them. Eli Lake reported three weeks ago that American spies captured communications between Ansar al-Sharia and the local Al Qaeda affiliate after the attack.

Ansar al Sharia has been declared by the State Department to be a an Al Qaeda-affiliated group. A member of the group suspected of participating in the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi has been arrested and is being held in Tunisia…

Fox News was told that an estimated 300 to 400 national security figures received these emails in real time almost as the raid was playing out and concluding. People who received these emails work directly under the nation’s top national security, military and diplomatic officials, Fox News was told.

If I understand the White House’s Benghazi narrative in its current form, it boils down to this. There was no protest, but the attack was still kinda sorta spontaneous insofar as it was inspired by what was happening at the embassy in Cairo. And it wasn’t an official Al Qaeda or Ansar al-Sharia operation, even though members of AQIM and Ansar al-Sharia — including the founder of the latter group — were on the scene and/or participating. Essentially, the White House wants you to believe that members of two prominent jihadist paramilitary groups were kicking around on September 11 when one of them turned on the TV, heard about the Mohammed movie from coverage of the Egyptian embassy assault, and decided to quickly pull together a complex, heavily-armed attack on the local U.S. consulate involving 20 or so people. Never mind that there had been harassment of, and attacks on, western interests in the city for months; these guys apparently had no serious designs on Chris Stevens or his compatriots until they heard about the YouTube video and hulked out in the form of an organized armed raid. The only thing that makes this story plausible is that security for Stevens at the compound was so disgracefully poor that hardened jihadis probably could have drawn up a play in the dirt outside the building and gotten to the ambassador. That’s Obama’s defense here, essentially — that the consulate was so easily breached thanks to threadbare protection for Stevens that it’s quite possible the whole thing was put together by amateurs, without planning.

Update: Patterico e-mails with a good catch about the Fox News excerpt quoted above. It’s Ansar al-Sharia in Yemen that’s been designated by State as an Al Qaeda affiliate, not Ansar al-Sharia in Libya. There are, in fact, multiple Ansar al-Sharias in Libya; I wrote a bit about that here. Al Qaeda HQ in Pakistan has evidently been using that name as an alias for some of its affiliates. The Benghazi group may or may not be one of them, but given their contacts with AQIM after the attack as described above, it’s probably a matter of time before State designates them an official AQ affiliate too.

Blowback

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QUESTION: Does the State Department feel that we’re maybe facing something like a 9/11 chapter two, and that what happened in Benghazi was the beginning of another offensive against the United States?

MS. NULAND: I’m not going to get into characterizing this until we see what these investigations lead to. I think you have seen that – this week, we have seen peaceful protests in a lot of countries. We’ve seen a few of those turn violent. But we’ve also seen very good reaction around the world from government security forces to ensure that even in those places where they’ve become violent, they haven’t gotten out of hand in terms of destroying diplomatic facilities or diplomatic property. We are very appreciative of that, including, as you know, in Pakistan today, where there were relatively large demonstrations around the country – Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar – that have now been dispersed.

So we are obviously going to wait for the results of the investigations – the FBI investigation, the result of the Accountability Review Board. This is the appropriate and normal way to review the situation and to learn whatever lessons there are to be learned. But as the President, as the Secretary, as all of us have said, security of our people, of our facilities around the world is of utmost importance.
(More…)http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2012/09/198026.htm

And I saw today that Apple is releasing a new 7 1/2 inch iPad thingy with two cameras, one front, one back!

Now there can be MORE danged iPad thingy fun!

thatsafactjack on October 24, 2012 at 1:12 AM

I know but I am not an Apple fan … though my wife, son and daughter all are.

My wife has an iPad, two iPhones (one from work) and is going to get another iPod touch for her birthday because …

… she gave her iPod Touch to my daughter who had dropped hers and cracked her screen … buttt my daughter has some sort of wierd electrical field about her whih has caused the iPod Touch my wife gave her to stop working so they are going to go to the Apple store to trade in my daughter’s iPod Touch and 5 other non-working iPod’s we have had die on us over the last few years …

… one of which I just found out is my son’s iPod Classic which died on him … but he has been using his iPhone for the time being …

Sorry for running on like that … I’ll just go over in the corner and curse Steve Jobs for a few minutes more till I wind down.

I say folks all the time. I’ll never do it again now though. *embarrassed* Assumes fetal position.

Bmore on October 24, 2012 at 1:21 AM

Get out of fetal! :)
B..it is him..it is so fake..folks, fols and folks! It irritates the living hell out of me
when he says it. I am sure when hanging out with jay Z he says folks..lol
I just hate fake..he repeats that all the time..

Get out of fetal! :)
B..it is him..it is so fake..folks, fols and folks! It irritates the living hell out of me
when he says it. I am sure when hanging out with jay Z he says folks..lol
I just hate fake..he repeats that all the time..

General Petraeus will not be able to continue to serve as the head of CIA knowing that his people’s real-time emails and feeds from Benghazi to the White House were all but ignored, for 7 hours, while men died.

Look for his statement of resignation this week. This is huge, and I can’t imagine a man of honor as is he could stand another hour in the service of this president.

TXUS on October 24, 2012 at 12:39 AM

But Petraeus is NOT a man of honor. Until at least 3 days after the fact he was personally spreading the Big Lie and then seems to have gone into hiding while still collecting his pay. Maybe working behind the scenes for that cushy job at Princeton.

Actually, I run old Dell Studio XPS 1645′s, get them reconditioned and upgraded to the teeth with JBL speakers, integrated subwoofer, RGB 1080p displays, and new processors. I use them for work for the picture quality and the sound quality. :)

I wonder if the WH insistence on trying to tie the video into this thing was setting a framework for some type of UN antiblasphemney law against criticising Islam. In the name of world peace, of course.

I’m glad you’re going to be celebrating with friends, Arnold! Do try to stop by HA if you get the chance… most of us are going to try to check in. :)

thatsafactjack on October 24, 2012 at 1:17 AM

Maybe someday they will have like twenty small pic squares inside the bigger monitor where we can all talk back and forth. Cept for minnesoter—he/she no get pudding.
A few of the squares I would just mute and blank out.

Good evening, B9! So good to see you! Yes… but you must mount a rescue mission for Spark! His gyroscope isn’t functioning and he’s growing despondent about his lack of course!

thatsafactjack on October 24, 2012 at 1:18 AM

Good evening..what?! lol
gyroscope..member as a Greek..thinking gyro..and a scope inserted to check out the contents…lol
Y’all are crazy.
Sorry..jumped in..no time to read before hand.
A gyroscope…LOL..I gotta tell me cousins a joke about it now.
And the local Greek festival is in a couple weeks here at the church..
maybe I will ask the Priest about a gyroscope.

Actually, I run old Dell Studio XPS 1645′s, get them reconditioned and upgraded to the teeth with JBL speakers, integrated subwoofer, RGB 1080p displays, and new processors. I use them for work for the picture quality and the sound quality. :)

thatsafactjack on October 24, 2012 at 1:31 AM

Wait? What? … I thought you were a screenwiter or something?

Do you annotate the dickens out of your writing with illustrated manuscripts????

I do annotate a lot of scripts when I’m consulting…I’m also a script consultant and I do a lot of it… so I also have to run a lot of clips from dailies etc. and I have to screen shorts, and then I also have to be involved in seemingly interminable video conferences … so I need a very good screen and sound system.

And I saw today that Apple is releasing a new 7 1/2 inch iPad thingy with two cameras, one front, one back!

Now there can be MORE danged iPad thingy fun!

thatsafactjack on October 24, 2012 at 1:12 AM

The current ipad (4) has front and rear cameras too, but only the rear one is really good, the front-facing iSight camera (which is just like the one in the iPhone 4) is nothing to write home about. Am tempted by the smaller ipad, but just can’t find any justification for it yet :), have to find a better way to rationalize it :).. I mean the 9 in ipad is pretty small/slim as it is, not heavy, perfect for travel, fits in every imaginable type or size of carry on…what would the smaller version accomplish really, except for it’s probably a cuter looking gadget as an ipad miniature…anyways, have to see it and play with it, then I know I’ll find a way to justify buying it :)…

Why?
You say puddin cups over and over like a loon?
:)
Like minnesota or that csdseven dude.
Grammy!!!
Puddin cups!!
eleventy! Bwahahahaha..puddin!
good lord..
I feel like I am in the movie One flew Over the cc nest-when they comment. :)